Jackie Chan's next English language film gets a director, a title and a Fan…

…Fan Bingbing, that is. Fresh from appearing in Iron Man 3 (Oh, you don’t live in China? Well then you wouldn’t have seen the specials shot just for the Chinese market in which Bingbing appears) and with an upcoming role in X-Men: Days of Future Past, the up and coming Chinese actress is definitely making a play for international stardom, and who better to hitch your star to than one of your most famous countrymen?

THR reports that she’s been picked to star in Jackie Chan’s first English-language film since The Karate Kid, which now finally also has a director and title.

There action comedy, now titled Skiptrace, is based off a story idea from Chan himself, and for a while it looked like he might be stepping behind the camera himself. For anybody who saw Chan’s last directed effort, Chinese Zodiac, and felt as disappointed as I was, you’ll be happy to know that the action legend has instead decided go with somebody a little more… shall we say, animated?

British director Sam Fell, who is more known for his animated feature films (Paranorman, Flushed Away, The Tale of Desperaux) than action comedies has been tipped by Chan – who’s also wearing the producer’s hat – to helm the film. It will be interesting to see how Fell handles the crazy monkey kung fu action but since Chan’s gravity defying on-screen acrobatics often border on cartoon, this may just work.

Jay Longino, as well The Sitter writing duo Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka, have been tasked for producing the screenplay from Chan’s initial plot idea for Skiptrace, which will see a Hong Kong detective (Chan) trying to track down a mouthy American gambler and con-artist on the run from his creditors. The two men eventually form an unlikely partnership in an attempt to take down Hong Kong’s biggest criminal. There’s no mention yet of which role Bingbing will be playing

I’ve been a gigantic Jackie Chan fan since I was a little boy, but his last film, Chinese Zodiac, was a complete disaster, boasting the most annoying character I’ve possibly ever seen on screen. She was like the love child Jar Jar Binks and Zach Galifianakis. But French. Chan has a lot to make up for, so lets hope that Skiptrace is the film to do it.

A man of many passions - but very little sleep - I've been geeking out over movies, video games, comics, books, anime, TV series and lemon meringues as far back as I can remember. So show up for the geeky insight, stay for the delicious pastries.

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